Jan. 22, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
hunting some forty miles to the west, were at 
this very time in the last straits of starvation, 
only saving their lives by a hasty retreat into 
the woods, where they were lucky enough to kill 
sufficient meat to stave off disaster. This is a 
common danger in the autumn, as the caribou 
coming in from the Barren Ground join together 
m one vast herd and do not scatter much till 
they reach the thick timber. It turned out for 
us very well, however, and there is really no 
limit to the number we might have killed if we 
had been in need of them, but it was too far 
out to make a permanent winter’s camp, and 
hauling such a long distance with dogs is un¬ 
satisfactory, as most of the meat would be con¬ 
sumed on the way. We killed, therefore, only 
so many as we could use, and had some luxurious 
living during the rest of our stay in this camp. 
The caribou, as is usually the case when they 
are in large numbers, were very tame, and on 
several occasions I found myself in the middle 
of a band with a splendid chance to pick out 
any that seemed in good condition. The rutting 
season was just over, and as the bulls had lost 
all their fat, and their meat was too strong to 
eat, only does were killed. A good deal of ex¬ 
perience is needed tO| tell the fat ones, but the 
halfbreeds can tell age and sex pretty well by 
the growth of the horns. Often King told me 
which to shoot at, and it was seldom that he 
made a mistake in his choice. 
“This passage of the caribou fs the most re¬ 
markable thing that I have ever seen in the 
course of many expeditions among the big game 
of America. The buffalo were for the most part 
killed out before my time, but notwithstanding 
all the tall stories that are told of the numbers 
I cannot believe that the herds on the prairie 
ever surpassed in size La foule of the caribou.”_ 
Editor.] 
New York Zoological Society. 
The sixteenth annual meeting of tbfe Zoologi¬ 
cal Society was held on the evening of Tuesday, 
Jan. 11, at the Plaza Hotel, New York city. Mr. 
John L. Cadwallader presided. The report of 
the executive committee was presented and read 
by Madison Grant, its chairman. Among other 
things this showed that the attendance at the 
Zoological Park for the year 1909 exceeded 
1,610,000, while that of the Aquarium exceeded 
3,800,000, the two institutions thus showing a 
total attendance of 5,410,000, which exceeded the 
attendance of the previous year by nearly a mil¬ 
lion and a half. 
The collections have been considerably in¬ 
creased, about $20,000 having been expended in 
the purchase of animals. Of these many were 
large African game animals, but there were 
many small mammals and many hundred birds 
and reptiles. 
The Administration Building is nearly com¬ 
pleted and should be thrown open to the mem¬ 
bers of the society in a short time. It will con¬ 
tain among other things a library, reception and 
sitting room, and in it will be exhibited the na¬ 
tional collection of heads and horns, which has 
been increased greatly during the past year. 
Among the additions is the collection of F. H. 
Barbour, including 150 specimens, of which many 
are record heads. - 
The New York Aquarium has grown enor¬ 
mously and the new system of sea water has re¬ 
sulted in substantial economy in administration. 
A notable gift received during the year was 
the sum of over $60,000 to be devoted to an ex¬ 
pedition around the world to study the pheas¬ 
ants in their native environment and for the pub¬ 
lication of a monograph on this group. The ex¬ 
pedition is in charge of C. Wm. Beebe, the 
curator of birds. During the year an endow¬ 
ment fund has been established for the society, 
and it is hoped that during the year this fund 
may be increased to $250,000, so that the society 
may gain an income from this source sufficient 
to carry on its work. There is constant demand 
A NEST DECORATED WITH STRING. 
for funds for special kinds of work and the 
drains on the resources of the society are heavy. 
1 he members are urged to aid in increasing the 
membership, and where possible in securing en¬ 
dowments for the society. 
During the meeting President Henry Fairfield 
Osborn, for the executive committee, presented 
to Dr. Wm. T. Hornaday, Director of the Zoo¬ 
logical Park, a silver loving cup. This was fol¬ 
lowed by an election of members of the board 
of managers as follows: F. Augustus Schermer- 
horn, Percy R. Pyne, George B. Grinnell, Jacob 
H. Schiff, George C. Clark,-Cleveland H. Dodge, 
Nelson Robinson,■ C. Ledyard Blair, Frederick 
G. Bourne, W. Austin Wadsworth, Emerson Mc¬ 
Millan and Anthony R. Kuser. 
After the adjournment of the formal meeting, 
the members enjoyed the exhibition of a remark¬ 
able series of photographs of living wild ani¬ 
mals of British East Africa, which were’taken 
by A. Radclyffe Dugmofe. There were about 
eighty of these pictures, including twenty-six 
species of the most important African mammals. 
Lions were photographed at a distance of from 
thirty to forty feet, and charging rhinoceroses at 
about the same distance. 
Talking Magpies. 
Iron Springs Mesa, Colo., Jan. 15.—Editor 
Forest and Stream: In Forest and Stream of 
Dec. 25 the editor’s note following "Noted Rob¬ 
bers—Starlings,” by F. M., seems to show skep¬ 
ticism as to the ability of certain birds to talk; 
but without the cruelty of the tongue-splitting 
business, I have at different times owned three 
magpies and have known of four others 111 dif¬ 
ferent parts of the country that could beat any 
parrot I ever heard talk. 
One that I raised myself learned to call me 
by name in about three months and would soon 
say, “Hello, Frankie,” “What you say?” “What 
you doin’?” “Oh, shut up,” “Why don’t you 
talk?” “You dirty magpie,” “Hello, Trixie,” 
“Here, Maj,” “Here, Maj., heel ’em up,” “How 
are yez?” “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty,” and an almost 
endless list of little sayings and cute combina¬ 
tions of the same, laughing until she would seem 
to be utterly exhausted, then end up with 
“Whoopee.” If I said to her, “Hello, Magpie,” 
she would reply, “Hello, Frankie.” If by chance 
she made a mistake and said “Hello, Magpie,” 
she would laugh uproariously and change it. 
But woe betide the young chicken that came 
within her reach, and whole nests of eggs would 
be picked to pieces, so that at chicken raising 
time a cage was a necessity. 
If a wild magpie gets the habit of catching 
chickens he is worse than a hawk, from the fact 
that the hens are not afraid of him, and he will 
come down into the yard and walk around among 
them until he can pick up a chicken and get 
away without making a fuss. 
From May to July magpies nest all about here, 
putting up a big bunch of sticks with a roof of 
the same in clumps of willows or in tall trees 
along canons- where there is water. They lay 
from four to six eggs, frequently raising two 
families in a season, and often repairing their 
old nests instead of building new ones. 
The worst trouble about making pets of them 
is that while there will be a dozen birds that 
will learn to whistle and laugh and perhaps say 
hello, there will only be one to talk like the one 
of which I have just written. 
Mrs. Frances Palmer. 
[The editorial note referred to was not in¬ 
tended to express skepticism as to the talking 
powers of certain birds. We have seen in Mon¬ 
tana, at least one magpie that talked plainly and 
volubly, though his repertory was not so exten¬ 
sive as that of Mrs. Palmer’s bird.— Editor.] 
On a nearby river there is a grassy bank where 
canoeists frequently resort at noon and later dis¬ 
card lunch boxes and string. In a thicket close 
by was found an abandoned nest, apparently 
that of a wood thrush, decorated with quantities 
of this cotton string, which hung in festoons, 
though pieces were also woven in with the bafk, 
grass and mud of the nest. 
' All the -fish lazvs of the United States and 
Canada , revised to date and noiv in force, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
